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This months Daring Bakers challenge was a filbert gateau with praline buttercream. When I first read the title of the challenge I was pleased as it sounded good. Unfortunately as I read the instructions I realized that I would not be able to complete the challenge as it was. The recipe called for grinding hazelnuts into a flour and grinding praline into a paste. I do not have a full food processor and my mini chopper is on its last legs and is not nearly capable of grinding nuts. I decided that I would at least try and come up with something and I was thinking that an almond themed cake would be nice.

Filbert Genoise

I had some almond meal on hand and I decided to use that instead of grinding the hazelnuts into a meal. I did not want a large cake all for myself so I cut the recipe in half. I used my 2 small 4 inch spring form pans and 2 ramekins to bake the cake and this allowed me to make 2 small 2 layer cakes. One thing that I have been enjoying about the DB challenges is that there is no shortage of beating in them. I really need to pick up a mixer. For this challenge I fell back to my trusty pair of forks.

Directions:1. Mix the almond meal, flour and cornstarch in a bowl.2. Beat the egg yolks until light in colour, about 5 minutes.3. Add the sugar slowly while beating.4. Mix in the vanilla extract an lemon zest.5. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.6. Beat in the sugar.7. Beat in the egg yolk mixture.8. Put the dry ingredients in a mesh strainer and sprinkle it into the egg mixture while folding until almost all of the dry ingredients have been folded in.9. Pour the butter over the batter.10. Fold in the remaining dry ingredients.11. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.12. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

Simple Syrup

Continuing with the almond theme I added a splash of amaretto to the simple syrup.

Directions:1. Simmer the water and sugar for a few minutes.2. Remove from heat and add the amaretto.

Swiss Buttercream

This is the third time that I have made buttercream and each time has been easier than the last. This time it came together really quickly. My biggest problem now is trying to not eat it all before it gets onto the cake. Since I would only be doing two layers instead of 3 and since I have no skill in decorating with buttercream I cut the recipe down to a quarter of its original size. I also added a splash of amaretto to the buttercream.

Directions:1. Beat the egg white in a bowl over simmering water until soft peaks are just starting to form.2. Beat in the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is warm.3. Remove from the heat and continue to beat until it cools down.4. Beat in the butter and continue beating until it thickens.5. Beat in the vanilla extract and amaretto.

Chocolate Ganache

The last time that I made a chocolate ganache glaze it came out pretty good with a nice glossy finish but this time it did not work at all. The chocolate ganache was not shiny at all and it had a texture that just would not smooth out. At least it still tasted good.

Directions:1. Bring the heavy cream and corn syrup to a simmer.2. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for a minute.3. Mix until the chocolate is incorporated into the cream.4. Mix int the amaretto and vanilla extract.

Almond Praline

The original recipe called for the praline to be ground into a paste and mixed in with the buttercream which sounded really good. Since I could not grind the praline into a paste I decided use the praline as a decoration on the cake. I went with chopped almonds rather than the hazelnuts. I think that it came out as more of an almond brittle rather than almond praline but it tasted great!

Ingredients:1/2 cup sugar1/2 cup almonds (chopped)

Directions:1. Melt the sugar in a small sauce pan.2. When the sugar is melted and browned mix in the almonds and bring to a boil.3. Pour the mixture onto parchment paper and let it cool.

Filbert Gateau with Praline and Buttercream

Directions:1. Place 1 layer of the cake on your working surface and brush on some of the simple syrup to moisten.2. Generously spread some of the buttercream onto the cake.3. Place the next layer of cake onto the buttercream layer and moisten with the simple syrup.4. Clean up the sides of the cake if any buttercream spilled out.5. Pour the chocolate ganache over the cake and spread it evenly around the whole cake.6. Decorate the cake as desired. I used some almond praline.

I ran into a few troubles along the way but I ended up with a tasty cake. I really enjoyed the almond flavour throughout the cake. I am really glad that I got to make the almond praline/brittle as it was really good. I am going to have to work on my cake decorating skills. It's time for me to go and look at all of the other Daring Bakers wonderful creations.

Does this recipe look tasty?

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comments:

Hah, sarcasm duly noted Kevin :) Aren't simple hand mixers like $10? I think it's a good investment. I don't think I could survive making foam-based cakes, buttercream, and whipped cream on just a whisk... Besides, it's too hot and my cream would have turned to butter if I didn't do it quickly!But your cakes did turn out great! I love that you used the brittle shards to decorate them-- it's so elegant :)

Oh my goodness, two forks?? PLEASE go get a hand mixer! You're making my wrists and elbows hurt just thinking about it. Also, Filbert Gateau sounds like the name of some lowly French lord or something. Love it. And it looks tasty!

You also mentioned that you do not have a food processor. These can be expensive and cheap ones usually don't do a very good job so hold up on purchasing one until you have done research and can afford a good one.

What you can use to grind small portions of nuts is a Krupps spice grinder and it is the perfect size to grind enough coffee for just a couple of cups.

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While I would not want to grind a couple of cups of nuts this way, it is a very efficient and quite cheap machine for small to medium jobs.

Since you are also into making some of your own spices, you could certainly use the Krupps grinder for that job as well. It has very sharp blades so is very efficient and you can grind coarse or quite fine. I make all my own cloves etc using it.

Mmm, hazelnuts are my favorite, but i love the idea of almond and amaretto with it.In my experience, if the ganache gets too hot before pouring, it comes out not glossy and occasionally chunky... I used to be a cake decorator and I had to learn that the hard way when a cake turned out crappy.

Wow. No mixer? I was in the middle of a recipe last week and mine died. All the mixing for DBs blew my motor on my cheap model. Let us both as Santa for a Kitchenaid. Great job considering your obstacles.

Good lord, my dear. You need a food processor... AND a kitchenaid for that matter. How on Earth have you gotten by without?!? You're a stud and you never fail to impress! Great job on your challenge, Kevin. As always, you totally rock the hizouse. xxoo

Kevin, your cake is adorable! Don't worry about the cake decorating skills, if the cake taste skills are top notch. I'd hate to be without a hand mixer as a fallback to my trusty Kitechenaid; I've had one for 30 years that still comes out when I need to beat something over the heat, as you did with these eggs, which I'd have had cooked before they were whipped. This is a glorious effort!

Soon enough you'll be able to talk about the days when you didn't have a proper food processor and managed to submit a totally fine cake. It was a great challenge this month and you did a good job of it.

Kevin I can hardly keep up with all your fantastic works of cooking art. I wonder how you find the time to do all these dishes. You really are such a great cook. I always look forward to your newest creations.

that was really great quick-thinking on your feet kevin! and it's gorgeous. what a lovely daring bakers challenge this is. it's one reason why i can't take part in Daring Bakers. i just couldn't do something like that. oh sigh, what a luscious beauty.

once again kevin, you should have some sort of postal system to send me one of that to munch on..gosh. it's lovely! x

Your cake is wonderful I like the decorations because the praline is really beautiful, the caramel color is very attractive and mouth watering. If I tell you all the problems I had with the butter cream you'll cry.I think we all had problems but in the end we had a great cakeThank you for stopping by my blog and for your nice comment on my cake, that made me so happy

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About Me

I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.